1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to a user participation-based measurement information utilization system and, more particularly, to a measurement information utilization system and a user participation-based measurement information utilization method and apparatus, which can collect sensor information, wireless communication heterogeneous infrastructure measurement information, etc. from the terminals of users and can provide service using the collected information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Global Positioning System (GPS)-based positioning technology may provide information about the position of a user terminal equipped with a GPS receiver with a positional accuracy having an error of about several meters to several tens of meters in an outdoor area on the Earth by utilizing a GPS satellite. In the future, with the advent of additional wideband satellite navigation systems, such as the European Galileo or Russian GLONASS, the availability and accuracy of positioning in outdoor space are expected to be improved. However, in indoor areas and congested downtown areas, weak signals may be received due to being blocked by buildings, or positioning may be impossible or positioning accuracy may be deteriorated due to increased multipath error. Further, a problem also arises in that, due to the decrease in the number of visible satellites, the Time To First Fix (TTFF) is lengthened.
Mobile communication base station-based positioning technology can realize shortened TTFFs compared to GPS, but there is a disadvantage in that base station cell-based positioning, which is influenced by the array of base stations, typically has lower positioning accuracy than GPS.
Meanwhile, Wi-Fi-based positioning technology may provide precise position information having a position error of about several meters using the strengths of signals received from Wi-Fi Access Points (APs), in the interior of a building or a congested metropolitan area in which GPS signals cannot be received or a GPS position error is large. Recently, the area in which service is available has extended to large urban areas through Wardriving (or AP mapping) technology based on Skyhook Wireless in the United States. However, Wardriving (or AP mapping) technology using vehicles is problematic in that a lot of expense is required to initially construct the location database (DB) of Wi-Fi APs. Further, in the case of collection positions, collection is performed outdoors compared to the use of GPS position information, and thus a problem arises in that it is impossible to collect position information in indoor areas.
To date, technology for acquiring collection positions in indoor areas has used a scheme for selecting collection positions or areas (a room, a passage, a neighboring region of interest, etc.) indicated on an indoor map, or for allowing a user to input text. Further, in the mobile terminal, methods for dynamically providing collection positions in an indoor environment using an indoor map and information measured by sensors in the terminal are also presented.
However, the above-described initial collection methods may incur considerable maintenance expenses for re-collection whenever the positioning infrastructure in an indoor environment is changed. Moreover, an indoor environment may include a large number of buildings and may require the authorization of a building owner or an operator when information is collected, and thus such re-collection is not easy.
Further, from the standpoint of location-based service, existing location-based service generally determines the current location of a terminal, and provides content either at the corresponding location or within a predetermined range from the corresponding location. However, as a GPS chipset is generally mounted in a mobile terminal, location information may be generally provided in an outdoor environment. In contrast, in an indoor environment, it is not easy to provide indoor location information unless a location DB is generated in advance through a collection procedure. Further, since the availability of indoor location information is greatly influenced by the number and distribution of infrastructure elements, such as Wi-Fi networks or Bluetooth beacons, installed by existing mobile communication service providers or the like, the provision of location-based service based on high-precision indoor location information is greatly disadvantageous from the standpoint of service propagation.
In connection with this, Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2011-0011546 discloses a technology related to “DEVICE AND METHOD FOR COLLECTING INFORMATION RELATED TO INFRASTRUCTURE, AND POSITIONING METHOD AND SYSTEM USING THE SAME.”